[blagie]

It's a different parable. Everyone can afford a shovel.

At one point in time, computers were limited to very wealthy folks, like Bill Gates. He learned to program by going to an exclusive private high school which had a computer, and later, in Harvard. He had a unique competitive advantage which allowed him to start Microsoft.

A better parable is GNU/Linux/BSD/etc. versus Unix/VAX/etc. Unix cost thousands of dollars. The free alternatives were free. This allowed a whole generation of kids to learn, who didn't have Gates' resources.

I wasn't in a private high school, and without Debian, I wouldn't have the life I have.